Dynasties of ChinaMing dynastyMing dynasty lineage
Jiajing · Reign 1521—1567
He succeeded to the throne as a vassal king and used great rituals to overwhelm the court officials. After middle age, he lived in Xiyuan to practice Taoism and relied on the Yan Song Dynasty to manage politics. The southern Japanese and northern captives were in trouble.
Zhu Houcong was the grandson of Xianzong and the son of Zhu Youyuan, king of Xingxian. He was born in Anlu, Huguang (now Zhongxiang, Hubei). In 1521, Wuzong died without an heir. Yang Tinghe, the first assistant, welcomed him to the capital based on the article "Brothers end with brothers" in "Emperor Ming Ancestor Instructions". He ascended the throne in April at the age of fifteen. At the beginning of his ascension to the throne, Yang Tinghe presided over the elimination of righteousness and bad governance, and eliminated more than 100,000 redundant personnel such as Jinyiwei, which was praised by both the government and the public.
He insisted on respecting his biological father as the emperor, and held a three-year ceremonial discussion with Yang Tinghe and other court officials. In 1524, the court staff left the court and the court officials cried and remonstrated, thereby establishing absolute authority. In the early period of Jiajing period, he established sacrificial rituals and inspected the land of Xunqi Zhuang, which was quite effective. After the Renyin Palace Incident in 1542, he moved to Xiyuan and devoted himself to fasting, worshiping and practicing Xuan. He did not go to court for more than 20 years and relied on Yan Song, who was good at writing Qing Ci, to handle government affairs. Yan Song and his son had exclusive power for nearly 20 years.
During this period, Anda invaded the north frequently, and in 1550 their troops came to Beijing. The Japanese pirates were rampant in the southeast, and it took Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou and others more than ten years to put them down. Yan Song resigned from office in 1562 and Xu Jie succeeded him as chief minister. In 1566, Hai Rui Shangshu, the head of the Ministry of Household Affairs, denounced him for being superstitious in alchemy and ignoring government affairs. In December of the forty-fifth year of Jiajing (January 1567), Shizong died of illness in Qianqing Palace. It is said that he was poisoned by taking elixirs for a long time.
Shizong was smart and decisive. When he came to the throne, he eradicated righteousness and bad governance, established the absolute authority of the imperial power with great ritual discussions, and improved the etiquette system, which was quite accomplished. However, he became addicted to Taoism in his middle age. He ignored the court for more than 20 years and focused on Yan Song. His administration was corrupt and his finances were in short supply. As a result, there were soldiers from the north approaching the city and Japanese pirates from the south wreaking havoc in the southeast. During his forty-five years in office, Ming Dynasty's trend of turning from governance to chaos has become increasingly obvious.
PoliticsSuccession into the great system
In March, Wuzong died of illness. Yang Tinghe took charge of the government with his posthumous edict and welcomed the crown prince Xingxian. In April, Zhu Houcong arrived in Beijing and insisted on entering the palace through the Daming Gate as the emperor. He refused to ascend the throne with the Crown Prince ceremony as planned by the Ministry of Rites, which laid the foundation for the Dali Discuss.
PeopleZhang Congshangshu Yili
In July, Zhang Congshangshu, a new scholar in the imperial examination, advocated that Shizong inherited the imperial lineage instead of passing Xiaozong as his son, and that his biological father, Xingxian Wang, should be respected as the emperor's imperial examination. Shizong was overjoyed and said, "With this conclusion, my father and son have been saved." From this, Zhang Cong rose to prominence.
Culture"The Romance of Three Kingdoms" is released
The earliest extant printed version of "Three Kingdoms" has a preface from the first year of Jiajing at the front, commonly known as the "Jiajing version". During the Jiajing period, the family of Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding, published "Water Margin", and the two chapter novels were widely circulated.
DiplomacyBattle of Ningbo for Tribute
The tribute envoys sent by the Japanese Ouchi clan and the Hosokawa clan respectively competed for the right to explore and trade in Ningbo. The Ouchi clan's envoy Zongshe killed the other party's envoy, looted and plundered Shaoxing along the way, and killed Ming Dynasty's officers and soldiers. The Ming court subsequently tightened trade and maritime restrictions with Japan, which intensified private smuggling and Japanese invasion.
PoliticsZuo Shunmen cried and remonstrated
In July, Shizong ordered that the word "Bensheng" be removed from the title of his birth mother. More than 200 ministers knelt down at Zuoshunmen and cried to remonstrate, shouting Taizu and Xiaozong. Shizong was furious and had more than 100 people imprisoned and more than ten people were killed by the cane. The opposition was unable to recover from the fall.
CultureUpdate the ceremony
Shizong changed the system of worshiping heaven and earth together since Hongwu. He built a circle mound in the southern suburbs of Beijing to worship the sky, a square zetan altar in the northern suburbs to worship the earth, and an altar to the morning sun and an altar to the eclipse moon in the east and west suburbs, forming a pattern of worshiping heaven, earth, sun and moon separately in the four suburbs.
Lasting legacyThe Temple of Earth, the Temple of the Sun, and the Temple of the Moon were all built at this time, and are now the city parks of Beijing; the Temple of Heaven Circular Mound was also built in this year, and the Temple of Heaven was listed as a World Cultural Heritage in 1998.
EconomyA whip method was proposed
Fu Hanchen, the imperial censor, requested that all taxes and levies be consolidated and distributed, and the money collected be collected, which was called "one line". After that, Hai Rui, Pang Shangpeng and others successively tried it in Jiangnan, Zhejiang and other places, becoming the forerunner of Zhang Juzheng's nationwide implementation of the one-whip method during the Wanli period.
PoliticsChasing Ruizong
Shizong honored his biological father and established the king as Ruizong. The god entered the Ancestral Temple and was ranked above Wuzong. The grand ceremony ended with Shizong's victory. In the same year, the temple name of Chengzu was changed from Taizong to Chengzu, making him and Taizu the ancestors who would never change for generations.
PoliticsRenyin Palace Incident
The October palace maid Yang Jinying and more than ten people strangled Shizong's neck with a rope while he was sleeping. However, the rope was tied into a dead knot and was not fatal. Queen Fang rushed to the rescue after hearing the news. Afterwards, the palace maid and Duan Fei Cao were executed. Shizong moved to Xiyuan from then on and never returned to Da Nei.
PeopleYan Song joins cabinet
In August, Yan Song, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, was favored for his good writing of Qingci used in Zhaijuo ceremonies, and he joined the cabinet to participate in engine maintenance. He formed a party with his son Yan Shifan for personal gain and sold his official position to win titles. In 1548, he framed Xia Yan, the chief minister, and died. After that, he dominated the government for more than ten years.
MilitaryGengxu Incident
Mongolian Anda Khan led his army to break through from Gubeikou, marched to the gates of Beijing, and plundered the outskirts of Beijing for eight days before plundering. The Ming army did not dare to fight. The next year, the Ming Dynasty was forced to open horse markets in Datong and Xuanfu, but they stopped soon.
SocietyBuilding the outer city of Beijing
In order to defend against the Mongolian cavalry, the original plan was to build an outer city around the inner city of Beijing. Due to lack of financial resources, only the south side was built. The city of Beijing has since formed a "convex" outline.
Lasting legacyToday's Second Ring Road in Beijing was built roughly along the site of the inner and outer city walls of the Ming Dynasty. The Yongding Gate Tower at the main entrance of the outer city was rebuilt in 2004.
SocietyHua County Earthquake
In December of the 34th year of Jiajing's reign, a huge earthquake occurred in Huazhou, Shaanxi, affecting Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and other provinces. According to the "Records of the Ming Shizong", officials and soldiers and civilians killed "830,000 people", making it the earthquake with the largest death toll in recorded history.
DiplomacyPortuguese settle in Macau
The Portuguese landed in Macau on the pretext of drying flooded goods, bribed local officials in Guangdong, and were allowed to live and trade in Macau around 1557. Macao thus became the gateway for Sino-Western trade and the entry of missionaries into China.
Lasting legacyThe Historic Center of Macau was listed as a World Cultural Heritage in 2005; China resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Macau on December 20, 1999.
PeopleHu Zongxian traps Wang Zhi
Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang Province, used the opening of mutual markets as bait to recruit Wang Zhi, a maritime merchant leader who occupied the five Japanese islands and called himself "King Hui". After Wang Zhi returned to China, he was arrested and executed in 1559. His tribe then went out to plunder, and the Japanese invasion of Fujian and Zhejiang intensified.
MilitaryTaizhou’s nine battles and nine victories
Japanese pirates invaded Taizhou, Zhejiang on a large scale. General Qi Jiguang led the Qi Army, which was trained by Yiwu miners and farmers. They used the mandarin duck formation to win nine battles in Huajie, Shangfengling and other places. The Japanese pirates in Zhejiang were basically subdued. After that, Qi's army entered Fujian and Guangdong to suppress Japanese invaders.
PoliticsYan Song downfall
Censor Zou Yinglong impeached Yan Shifan, Shizong ordered Yan Song to become an official, and Yan Shifan sent garrison troops. In 1565, Yan Shifan was executed for treason with Japanese invaders and other crimes. Yan's family was confiscated, and Yan Song lived in the tomb. He died two years later. The position of chief assistant was taken over by Xu Jie.
PeopleHai Rui on "Public Security"
In February, Hai Rui, the head of the Household Department, prepared the coffin and dismissed the servants. Shangshu directly rebuked Shizong for his superstitious alchemy and for not paying attention to the court for more than 20 years. "The people of the world have not respected your Majesty for a long time." Shizong was furious and threw him into prison. After Shizong's death, Hai Rui was released and reinstated.
PoliticsDeath from illness and legacy
He died of illness in the Qianqing Palace in December of the 45th year of Jiajing's reign. The first assistants, Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng, drafted a posthumous edict to stop fasting and civil engineering projects in the name of Shizong, and appointed officials who had been convicted of outspokenness, which made the government and the public happy.
He was a Jinshi in his forties, and was appreciated by Shizong for his ceremonial memorial. Within a few years, he was promoted to the chief minister of the cabinet, and was given the name Fujing. During his term of office, he made great achievements in investigating the land of Xunqi Zhuang and abolishing the eunuchs who guarded various places.
He was informed by Shizong of Yiyi Li, and advocated that heaven and earth should be divided into sacrifices, and his official position should be the chief assistant. He was an upright person and fought for power with Yan Song. In 1548, he was framed by Yan Song for supporting Zeng Mian's proposal to regain the Hetao and abandoned the market.
Jiangxi was a pleasant person, and he was favored by Qingci. He served in the cabinet for twenty years, and controlled the government with his son Yan Shifan, forming cliques and accepting bribes. In his later years, he fell out of favor and was dismissed from office. His family property was confiscated and he died in the tomb.
After struggling under Yan Song for more than ten years, he finally overthrew Yan Song and became the chief assistant. After Shizong's death, the Last Ruler drafted the imperial edict, corrected Jiajing's bad government, and promoted Zhang Juzheng.
The governor-general of the anti-Japanese military affairs in the southeast, lured Wang Zhi to surrender, and appointed generals such as Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou. Because he was attached to Yan Song, he was arrested and imprisoned after Yan Song's fall and committed suicide in prison.
He formed the Qi Family Army and created the Yuanyang Formation. He won nine battles and nine victories in Taizhou, and then moved to Fujian and Guangdong. Together with Yu Dayou, he was known as "Yu Long Qi Hu" and wrote the "New Book of Ji Xiao".
He is proficient in swordsmanship and is the author of "The Book of Swords". He has fought against Japanese invaders along the coasts of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong for a long time. He has repeatedly made military exploits but has been unfairly punished many times. Together with Qi Jiguang, he is also known as "Yu Long Qi Hu".
He was born in Juren and was honest and upright. In 1566, he denounced Shizong in "Public Security Shu" and was imprisoned. Shizong was released after his death and was called "Haiqingtian" by the people.